035 Fixated

Fixated

The Amazing Things & Ideas List

• On the real secret to feeling good about yourself:
  
  "The secret to feeling great about yourself is not to be found in searching for people who are less than you and then show yourself superior to them, but in searching for people who are more than you and then show yourself worthy of their company." — Erik Naggum
  
  If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. Be in rooms where you can grow, not be admired.
  
  (Thanks to James Clear for sharing this through his 3-2-1 newsletter)
   
• Robert Cialdini on scarcity affecting decisions:
  
  "Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited.
  
  The idea of potential loss plays a large role in human decision making. In fact, people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value." — Robert Cialdini
  
  This is why marketers use attention seeking messages like "EXCLUSIVE", "only 5 remaining!", "limited edition", etc.
   
• A blog post that puts every hour with another human being into perspective: 
  The Tail End by Tim Urban (Wait But Why)
  
  Everyone knows we don't have enough time, although we forget it in the hassles of everyday living.
  
  But what we don't even realize is that most things in our life have reached their tail end.
  
  Read the post here.
   
• A book on why it's rational to be an optimist:
  The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
  
  This book argues why it's rational to be optimistic unlike the opposite way of thinking that has crept into human society at large. 
  
  It also mentions a crucial point about history that:
  
  what we tend to do as a species, as we progress, is to become more and more specialized in what we produce but more and more diversified in what we consume.

All articles posted on the blog this week:

• Distortion caused by recent events (#146):
  History and it’s key insights have a tendency to get distorted in our minds due to the recent record.
  Continue reading
   
• What’s wrong with teenagers? (#145):  A teenager’s rant on the problem with the normal teenager.

  When a child becomes a teenager, all of a sudden he’s into the “real world” now. And I feel that’s a really gloomy imaginative world to be in.
  Continue reading

• Douglas Adams On Religion (#144):
  The following is an excerpt from a speech by Douglas Adams on the troubles on speaking against religion in free society.
  Continue reading

Thank you for reading.

Onward, 
Arjun

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